The "Spooks And Goblins Of Gable Park Hotel" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Riding around the area of Lancaster, Pennsylvania known as Quaker Hills and Gable Park Woods with my wife, trying to find the location of what at one time was known as Gables Park Hotel.  

Post Card of the hotel at Gable's Woods.

The Hotel was along Wabank Road which I traveled over for four years while a student at Millersville State Teacher's College.  Little did I know at the time, but I was driving past a haunted house all those years.  Some people in the area believed the hotel was haunted for years.  Seems that the family who lived in the hotel in the 1950s would see white footprints crossing the floor from the window.  They were white footsteps from the limestone quarry across the road. The residents also said they would hear a door slamming shut every night at midnight and an old bloodstain that could not be removed from the wood floor of the bedroom.  

After supper at Gable's Woods, August 8, 1902

Another neighbor reported looking up at the old abandoned hotel on the hill and thinking that witches could have lived there.  The history of the house is interesting.  A local real estate entrepreneur by the name of Jacob Gable Jr. built the hotel in the 19th century.  He died in 1903 and was buried with his wife Alice in the cemetery between what are now the Quaker Hills and Gable Park Woods developments.  

Taking a walk near Gable's Woods, August 8, 1902

The large residence served as both the Gable family house as well as a hotel after being built.  The Betz family purchased the building from the Gable family and later rented it to Richard and Pauline Miller.  Patricia Miller Pabon, daughter of the Miller's, grew up in the building in the 1950s.  She said that there were so many rooms in the house and was told that it was a hotel at one time.  

Gable's Park Lake, August 8, 1902

Yvonne Riggs grew up in a house next to the hotel.  She remembers the ghostly cemetery stories as well as a story about her brother who was 12 years old at the time.  He used to walk around the house and would hear a woman screaming even thought the house was vacant and run down.  Bernadine Lucas remembers visiting a friend who lived near the hotel and stopping to look at the abandoned house on top of the steep hill.  It looked like witches could have lived there.  

Near Gable's Woods - August 8, 1902

The photograph I have of the residence/ hotel shows an impressive building with three floors with a wrap-around balcony on the second floor.  On either side of the residence were steps leading from the ground level to the balcony on the first floor.  The house/hotel was eventually torn down in the 1970s, a few years after I had graduated from Millersville.  The photographs I have found of the place show an exceptional house/hotel on a incline near what appears to be the Little Conestoga Creek which flows nearby.  The history of Lancaster County is very interesting, and from time to time stories arise that make it even more interesting.  I recently read a story titled "50 YEARS AGO (1906) that was published in the Thursday, May 3, 1956 Lancaster New Era and told of a group of teenagers who hid in the woods at Gable Park in hopes of breaking up parties in the woods.  The constable descended on the park and fired shots into the air.  I imagine the group disappeared rather quickly.  Can you imagine doing that today.  The constable would lose his job instantly.  Such were the goings-on around Gable Park Hotel.   Oh, for the good old days!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Another view of the Gable's Wood Hotel

This is what I believe to be the waterway near the Hotel.

The "One Polaroid Short Of Being Famous!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just got back from North East, Maryland.  The trip from Lancaster, Pennsylvania is slightly over an hour, but an easy drive through the countryside and farmland of some of the most fertile soil in the United States.  Carol and I saw a large herd of Black Angus Steers as well as close to two dozen beautiful horses that were in various stages of being groomed and trained.  

Kathy's Corner in North East, Maryland

For years we have driven to the small town which is at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to eat, enjoy the many and varied shops and to drop off a few of my altered Polaroids that I have made for over 50 years and sell at Kathy's Corner Shop in North East.  That was until a few days ago when I got a note in the mail telling me that she has decided to downsize the store and sell only merchandise that sells quickly.  Her little shop is packed full of just about everything artistic from hand-made jewelry to ceramics to t-shirts.  

Kathy is ready to greet a customer.

Her shop used to be two different store fronts which she opened into one to double the size.  That was many years ago, and due to the recent COVID-19, she has had to partially close.  She found she could least one half of the double store to a person that will sell children's clothing.  Perfect way to begin to make a living once again.  In order to do so, she decided to cut her stock in half.  My photos were part of that half that didn't make the cut.  I have been lucky enough to sell my photos in her shop for over 10 years now, and recently have not sold any for close to half a year.  She can't survive selling my photos, so I will remove them to allow for items that sell the best at present.  When we arrived today we parked in front of the store.  The town was very quiet with shops and restaurants mostly closed.  

This is one of my altered Polaroid prints.  This particular
print is of the nearby Turkey Point Lighthouse.  I mat
and frame them for sale in gift shops.

I sent Kathy a note telling her I would arrive on Wednesday about noon and she told me to call the number on the door and Les, her long-time employee and renter of the second floor of her store where he lives, would open the door for me to get my photographs.  Within a minute or two Les was at the door and was helping me load the two dozen or so prints into my car.  He said when the economy returns to normal she might give me a call and take a few back once again.    

This is a rack in the part of the store
that she is leasing where I had my photos.

Everyone is struggling and I hope she will be able to return her business to a state where she can make a living off of it.  In the meantime, I will attempt to have my brother help me set up a site online and try and sell the prints in that manner.  I really don't sell them to survive but because I enjoy making them and find it amazing that I can sell them.  Carol and I will still make visits to North East to visit with Kathy at her corner store.  My wife loves the jewelry she sells and we have purchased many gifts during our visits to drop off photographs.  Actually, we have spent more money at the shop and in the town than the photographs have put in my pocket.  But, that's OK since my altered Polaroid photographs are a hobby and have given me a chance to share them with others.  

Another view of the front of her shop.

Will I search for another shop in which to sell my photo- graphs?  Probably not.  It's not worth the hassle for the amount of money you make and at times costs me money if the shop sells items that my wife and myself enjoy.  I only hope that Kathy will be able to return her business to normal so we will be able to visit with her in her store for years to come.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Do You Know What's In Your Barber's Back Room?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Loaded my oldest son into the VW Bug with me and we headed to the barber shop to have our hair cut.  My son Derek would sit and look at the couple of children's books that Dick, our barber, had for to read while I had my hair trimmed and then Derek would sit in the chair and I would watch as the barber trimmed his hair.  Our barber shop was two blocks from our home in Grandview Heights, directly next to Lancaster Catholic High School.  Easy to identify since it had the candy-striped pole next to the door.  

Today's barber pole.

Barber poles go way bak to the 16th century in Europe when poles of all type were placed in front of shops, since over 60% of the population couldn't read at the time.  A large key told you a locksmith resided in the store, a scissors hanging near the door meant a taylor resided behind the store and a red, white and blue barber's pole meant this was the place to get your hair trimmed.  Little did I know at the time that Dick might have been doing a bit more in the back room of the barber shop besides living in it.  Back in the 16th century the barber was also a bloodletter!  Bloodletting was a standard treatment for a slew of maladies.  Many people thought that having excess blood in your body was the cause of most medical problems so to improve one's health, "bad blood" needed to be drained from the body.  And for some strange reason, the barber was who would do it for you.  To properly "breathe a vein," a patient would grasp a long staff, which helped his or her veins pop in relief.  Bandages were tightly wrapped around the pole.  When the barber lanced the vein, blood spiraled down the staff and collected in a bowl on the floor.  At times the bowl of blood was placed in the barber's window to advertise what they did in addition to cutting hair.  In London, England an ordinance was passed in 1307 saying "no barbers shall be so bold or so hardy as to put blood in their windows, openly or in view of folks."  So, the barbers placed the blood-streaked staff outside their barbershop as advertisement.  As the blood-streaked staff outside would unravel, it revealed a candy-cane pattern, thus the first true barber pole.  Two centuries passes before England enacted legislation that formally separated the professions of barber and surgeon.  The barber's pole still remained and today the modern barber's pole continues to pay homage to the profession's bloodletting past.  The cap or ball on the top of the pole represents the blood-catching basin while the spinning motion of many barber poles represents the customer's blood gently swirling down the barber's staff.  For myself, I no longer am in need of a barber, since the blood letting years ago caused my hair to disappear, thus my blood will remain in my body.  Now, for most of you reading this today...I'm almost positive that you never knew the significance and history behind the barber pole.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Wally Cleaver's Friend Has Left The House!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Much like any other day during this "Stay-at-home" quarantine we are part of at present.  Arose about 7:30 AM, put some sweatpants and a t-shirt on and headed downstairs to get the morning newspaper.  Fed the cats and sat in my favorite lounge chair to read the paper.  Saw a familiar face on the top left corner of the LNP/LancasterOnline paper.  Then it hit me who the guy was...Eddie Haskell!  Don't remember Eddie?  

Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell.

Eddie was the two-faced teenage scoundrel who was played by Ken Osmond on the show "Leave It To Beaver."  The black and white television show was one of my all-time favorites when I was in my mid-teenage years.  I even have been watching a double episode the past couple of weeks when I get up in the morning.  It is on our local station as part of the "MeTV" programing.  One of today's episodes had Eddie telling Wally that he now has a steady girlfriend.  Oh, Yeah!  I remember that one.  Saw it at least half-a-dozen times, but never get tired of it.  But, today's shows are going to have a bit more sadness to them, since the reason for Eddie's photo in the newspaper is to notify the residents of Lancaster that he has died.  The character of Eddie died years ago when the show was canceled, but Eddie's actor, Ken Osmond recently died at the age of 76.  

Wally, "Beaver" and Eddie on the set of "Leave It To Beaver."

Eddie had appeared in close to 100 of the show's 234 episodes that ran from 1957 to 1963 on CBS and ABC.  "Leave It To Beaver" was one of my favorites from the '50s and '60s as was "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,""Wagon Train" and "Covered Wagon Theatre."  In "Leave It To Beaver," the Cleavers represented the classic white middle class family while Eddie represented the danger in a '50s kind of way being he chewed gum and wore a jean jacket.  He also sucked up to Wally and Beav's parents, June and Ward Cleaver, and made fun of them when they weren't looking.  Eddie also treated Wally's little brother, Theodore, nicknamed the Beaver, as a useless irritant.  Eddie greeted the Cleavers with his usual..."Oh, good afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Clever.  I was just telling Wallace how nice it would be for Theodore to go to the movies with us."  Everyone watching the show knew he didn't mean a word of what he was saying.  Over the years the character of Eddie Haskell became so associated with Ken Osmond that he found it so hard to play any other character in any other show.  Because of his being typecast as a bad guy and not being able to play any other character in television, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department.  He told a reporter one time that playing Eddie was "a death sentence."  When he joined the L.A.P.D. he grew a mustache to try and disguise himself.  In 1980, he was shot three times during a chase with a suspected car thief, but escaped serious injury due to his belt buckle and his bulletproof vest.    

At a reunion are: Front - Gary Mathers (The Beaver), Barbara
Billingsley (June Cleaver), Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver) rear:
Frank Bank (Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford) and Ken Osmond
(Eddie). Eugene Beaumont (Ward Cleaver) died in 1982.

He retired from the force in 1988.  Kenneth Charles Osmond was born in Glendale, California in 1943.  His father was a studio carpenter while his mother was an agent who started taking him to auditions when he was 4 years old.  He appeared in commercials and at the age of 9 was cast in the film "So Big".  He also appeared in "Good Morning, Miss Dove" and "Everything but the Truth."  He grew up in North Hollywood and graduated from North Hollywood High School in 1961.  He immediately started a helicopter charter company with his older brother Dayton.  After his last season of "Leave It To Beaver," he joined the Army reserves.  In 1983 he appeared in the CBS made-for-TV movie "Still the Beaver" that led to "The New Leave It To Beaver" that ran from 1984 to 1989.  Osmond played Eddie as a husband and father, while his two sons in the show were Freddie Haskell and Edward "Bomber" Haskell Jr. who were played by his real-life sons, Eric and Christian.  In 2014 Osmond wrote a memoir, "Eddie: The Life and Times of American's Pre-eminent Bad Boy."  The character of Eddie Haskell has so endured in pop culture that a psychological syndrome has been named after him...The Eddie Haskell Effect.  This effect explains why bullies may not be discovered because they suck up to the authorities and peers behind their backs...just as Eddie Haskell did on "Leave it to Beaver."  Eddie is one TV character I have never forgotten from my past.  Not sure that is good or bad, but I can certainly see why Ken Osmond could never forsake the character when the show ended.  RIP Ken Osmond!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Another Piece Of The Colorful History Of Lancaster County Is Uncovered!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at The Lancastrian Facebook page when I came across a post that featured a dinner menu for the Hotel Weber in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  I asked my wife, Carol, if she had ever heard of the hotel before and I could tell her answer by just looking at her.  

Menu from Hotel Weber in 1946 - Click to enlarge

The menu was for a special luncheon that featured Broiled Lobster Tail for $1.10, Boneless Porter-house Steak for $1.10, Liver with Bacon for $.90, Deep Sea Scallops for $.85, Cheese Omelet for $.75 and a Vegetable Platter with Poached Egg for $.65.  The meal included a choice of two vegetables as well as your choice of dessert that was listed below and coffee, tea or milk.  Sandwiches were also listed at the bottom of the menu.  Great price for a hotel meal, at least by today's standards.  But, where was the hotel?  I "Googled" it, but came up empty.  And...the person who submitted the copy of the menu as well as the 44 other viewers of the page on The Lancastrian had no idea.  A few asked where it was, but with no answers.  So, I did the next most logical search; I searched lancasteronline, which is the search of Lancaster Newspapers archives.  Found close to 20 listings and began to read all of them.  Seems that there was a hotel in Lancaster in 1769 which was owned by Michael Diffenderfer who was a county commissioner and the man who purchased the home of Baron Stiegel, the glass maker, when Stiegel went broke and went to prison. In the basement of the hotel was an entrance to a tunnel with ran underground from the hotel to the Court House across the street.  The tunnel was needed in case of an attack by Indians so the guests and employees in the hotel could rush for the tunnel and reach the strong walls of the Court House.  He named the hotel the "Sign of the Buck."  In 1825 it changed hands and was known as the "Leopard Hotel" and was located at 19-31 North Duke Street.  It was one of the main stopping places on the old stage coach lines which ran westward.  It was reported that Georgia O'Keeffe stayed at the hotel when she visited her good friend Charles Demuth who lived closeby.  By then the hotel was known as Sprecher House and when Mr. Samuel Weber purchased it in 1911 it's name changed once again to Hotel Weber until 1962.  

Menu from Ground Hog Day, 1921.

Then on October 1, 1920, Dr. J.C. Burton of Scranton, PA, leased the hotel from Mr. Weber and added another local hotel known as Hotel Royal to his list of hotels and named the new addition Hotel Weber Annex.  The annex was located at Grant and North Duke Streets, about a half block away.  The two locations had a total of 125 rooms.  On May 13, 1935 the members of the Union Fire Co. No. 1 of Lancaster City celebrated their 175th Anniversary at the Hotel Weber.  Wonder what a lobster tail would have cost at that time?  The Union Fire Co. No. 1 was the oldest continuously operating fire company in America.  At their 175th celebration Dr. H.J.M. Klein, of Franklin and Marshall College, was the guest speaker who talked about "History past and present."  Robert Fulton, father of the inventor of the steamboat, was honored for starting the fire company in 1760; also honored were Joseph Simons, Mathias Slough, Adam Reigart, Edward Shippen and John Postlethwait, among others.  

The only photograph I could
 find of the original Hotel Weber.

The next newspaper story I found told of the re-opening of the Dining room of Hotel Weber on Sunday, October 18, 1936.  They specialized in banquets and social functions.  Then on August 13, 1938 approximately $8,500 was offered at sheriff's sale for real estate known as The Hotel Weber property at 19-21-23-25-27-29-31 North Duke Street.  The property was seized from Samuel R. Weber for unpaid debts and sold to Windolph and Mueller.  In November of 1938 there appeared an article in the Lancaster New Era stating that Hotel Weber is under new management with the entire hotel reconditioned.  The poster also said you should visit the Coffee Shop and Main Dining Room which has carefully selected foods prepared by an experienced chef.  Another listing on Friday, January 26, 1945 reported that the Hotel Weber property would be sold at auction in the Woolworth Building on the corner of Christian and Grant Streets. I assume that Windolph and Mueller sold their hotel at auction.  The next item I could find was a large announcement in the July 9, 1948 New Era that said the renovation program of the New Hotel Weber is just about complete.  The best foods and finest beverages at the lowest prices would be served in the new hotel.  It's location was listed as E. King & N. Duke Sts.  Once again, on June 11 of 1958, one of the oldest hotels in the nation was sold for $60,000 to a syndicate of men from New York City.  They planned to make renovations and continue the property as a modern hotel.  Then in 1962 it was renamed The Douglas Hotel; and later The King Douglas Hotel.   Today there is a Harb-Adult at the location that faces East King Street. I'm not sure when the New Yorkers sold the hotel.  In 1993 Jack Brubaker, Lancaster Newspaper's "The Scribbler" reported that the Hotel Weber Bar and Restaurant sign, that at one time was at the entrance to the Hotel, had been recently uncovered.  The sign was painted on the wall between 7 and 11 North Duke Street.  It was preserved for history's sake.  This is yet one more story telling of the colorful history of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS. I recently found the sign that was painted on the wall between 7 and 11 North Duke, but was unable to obtain a photo since the place is closed due to COVID-19.  Very little of the sign can be seen from the street side anyway.   

The "A Ballplayer You Shouldn't Forget!" Story

It was an ordinary guy.  Listening to Jimmy Buffett live from the Opera House in New Zealand.  At least I thought it was live until I saw on my computer screen next to the word Zealand (2017). Oh well, his songs still sound the same no matter where he may be or when he sings them.  

Listening to Jimmy and writing about Monte!  Life is Good!

So, as I write this, you may find a few extra words from one of his songs jumping into my memory as I wish I had a pencil thin mustache.  Story begins on April 15, 1947 when Jackie Robinson stepped to the plate against the Milwaukee Braves.  In that one instant, Jackie broke Major League Baseball's color barrier.  So why was it Jackie instead of someone else.  There had to be quite a few negro baseball players who were just as good, but weren't chosen to step to the plate that fateful day.  He actually wasn't the player chosen by the Negro League owners.  That was a young man by the name of Monte Irvin.  Both Monte and Jackie had graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.  Monte had made a name for himself after playing nine years for the Newark Eagles while Robinson had only played one year in the Negro League.  Many said that Monte was the superior player.  

A signed Monte Irvine baseball card.
Asking $50 on eBay.

But, Monte had served in the 1313 Engineer General Service Regiment from 1942-45, seeing action in the Battle of the Bulge.  When Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey showed interest in Monte, he said he wasn't ready to play Major League Baseball so soon after the war.  He was still suffering from "shell shock." So, Monte went to play in the Puerto Rican Winter League where he won the MVP in 1945 and '46. It was there that he met 11-year-old Roberto Clemente.  Monte reported that the neighborhood kids would hang around the ball field and the players would let them carry their bags which is what Clemente and his buddy Orlando Cepeda did.  When Monte felt as if he was ready to return to the Negro League, he did so in 1946 where he led the team to the Negro World Series title and won the batting title in the process.  And, when Monte Told Rickey he wasn't quite ready to play in the Majors, Rickey turned to Robinson and gave him the opportunity to be the first player to cross the color line in Major League baseball.  

Monte when he played for the New York Giants.

Three years later at the age of 30, Monte's rights were sold to the New York Giants, but he wasn't quite the same player he had been with the Newark Eagles.  He still helped the Giants to two pennants (1951 and '54) and one World Series title in 1954.  But, during his time with the Giants he got the chance to groom a young player by the name of Willie Mays who was my hero when I began playing Little League Baseball.  Monte Irvine did make history when he, Willie Mays and Hank Thompson were the Major League's first all-black outfield.  Willie said,  "Monte taught me a lot of things about life. I already knew how to play the game, but sometimes you need a little more.  

Another signed baseball card.

You need to know how to treat people.  You need to know how, when you hit a home run, you run around the bases--you don't stop and show anybody up.  Thinking was more important to him than just playing the game."  In 1956 Monte moved to the Chicago Cubs.  He didn't get to play every day, but still drove in 50 runs in 111 games in what would be his final season.  After he retired as an active player, Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn made him a public relations specialist for MLB.  Monte was in that position when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record.  Monte Irwin was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973 for his Negro League career.  Irvine was 96 when he died in 2016.  He might not have received the same recognition as did Jackie Robinson, but that doesn't mean he wasn't as good a ball player.  While researching Monte, I got an entirely new outlook on what the Black ballplayers had to go through during their entry into Major League Baseball.  Has it changed today.  I'm not sure!  At times I feel it is no different than when they first arrived on April 15, 1947.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Entertainment While I Write" Story

The email that drew my attention a few weeks ago.

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in my chair in the den, striking the small square keys of the keyboard in front of my desktop iMac computer.  My entertainment for the evening, besides my little cat, The Gray Lady, who is trying to add extra letters to this story, is listening to and singing along with Jimmy Buffett who happens to be in Key West while I am watching and singing along to his tunes emanating from the bottom right corner of my computer screen.  

The Coral Reefer Band

The site I have open in order to hear his songs is titled Margaritaville TV.  He has graciously allowed me and perhaps a few million others a chance to watch his "Spring 2020 Cabin Fever Virtual Tour" titled "Your Virtual License To Chill."  

Jimmy Buffett...but, did I really have to tell you that!

Actually, tonight is an encore perfor- mance that is not live, but a repeat of a live perfor- mance from the past.  The statement at the beginning of the link reads: With live touring temporarily paused as we all do our part to socially distance, we'll be offering up a one-of-a-kind virtual tour featuring some of the memorable and unique shows to help cope with cabin fever.  We will be re-broadcasting a concert for the archive "live" like we would from a night on tour.  Be sure to tune in, because when the broadcast ends, the show goes back into the vault.  

Mac McAnally

I can either listen to him on SiriusXM radio or watch on my computer.  Of course, at the bottom of the link is a chance to buy hats, t-shirts, CDs, etc.  At the end of the hour of music was a tour given by someone whom I don't know from Key West showing where Jimmy lived at 704 Waddell Street in Key West and where he first performed years ago on his way to fame and gigantic fortune.  

Michael Utley on the 120 bass accordion

And, what's neat is that tomorrow, and for the next five evenings, I will be able to listen to another concert he has performed in the recent past.  One of the shows comes from Cuba in which he only has three other members in his band, while the rest feature a full collection of "Coral Reefer Band" performers from Michael Utley on keyboards to Mac McAnally on guitar and vocals to Robert Greenridge on steel drums, Peter Mayer on lead guitar and vocals and Jim Meyer on bass guitar and vocals.  

Robert Greenridge on Steel Drums

I have added a few songs at the end that you may enjoy if you too are a Parrothead.  It was back on Thursday, August 25, 2005 that Carol and I headed to Citizens Bank Park in Philadel- phia to hear Jimmy in person in his "A Salty Piece of Land" Concert.  We had a great time in the packed stadium which seemed to vibrate as every one stood and danced along to his songs.  The performance is one that I will never forget.  

The house where Jimmy lived at 704 Waddell St., Key West

Carol and I were introduced to his music one summer day in the late 1990s while visiting with our friends Jere and Just Sue in State College.  We were all headed in their car to someplace I don't remember, when they turned on one of his CDs for us to hear.  Jimmy happened to be singing "Let's Get Drunk And Screw" and I looked at Carol and ... well, we were hooked on his style of music.  After all those years we can probably sing along with him to most of his songs he has performed.  I recently ordered his new CD that happened to come with a new hat for my collection.  Not sure when it will arrive, but I can hardly wait.  Said that most of the songs are new.  Now, my only problem I have while typing stories while listening to his music and keeping an eye on The Gray Lady is I tend to miss a few letters she has added from time to time. Perhaps you'll find them in my story.  Hey, she wants to become a parrothead also!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "A Dream Has Vanished! Say It Ain't So...Please!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with my grandson, Caden, as to what he is doing to try and past time while his school has been postponed for the rest of the year due to the Coronavirus.  He said he walked the half-mile to his old elementary school to shoot baskets on the playground, then returned home to take the family's two large dogs for a walk.  Not being able to go to school is driving him crazy!  He is a very good student, but what he misses most is been able to play baseball for his High School's team.  Caden began baseball at a very early age since his dad had him throwing and batting as soon as he was able to walk.  The love of the game was given to him by his entire family, since I played ball for many years as did his dad and uncle.  He honed his skills for close to 10 years in organized baseball and this year, as a freshman at Hempfield High School in nearby Landisville, Pennsylvania, he made the high school team. Before school ended more than a month ago, the team played their first scrimmage of the year and Carol and I headed to the game to see how well he would do.  

 

The evening he was picked for the team was a
special occasion for Caden and his mom and dad.
Here he is seen with his mom, celebrating!

He is playing Junior Varsity ball this year and is on a team that features freshmen and sophomores.  The team has about 18 players, so he wasn't sure if he would start the game or come in as a substitute.  The game started and there he was at first base in the bottom of the 1st inning warming up the rest of the infielders.  Top of the second and he came to bat to face the starting pitcher for the York team.  Hit the ball sharply to the third-baseman, but was thrown out at first base.  He didn't return to play first base in the second, but instead headed to the bullpen to warm up in preparation to pitch.  His team's pitcher began to struggle so he was called into the game to get the final out of the inning.  The following inning he continued to pitch and ended the inning with a strikeout on a great curveball.  The third and final inning had him back at first base once again.  The game was called after 3 innings due to the weather.  It looks as if the coach is planning on using Caden quite a bit which is what he was hoping would be the case.  Now, I should tell you that I find it hard at times to keep my mouth shut when Caden is playing.  The umpire is never right when he calls a ball when Caden is pitching or a strike when he is batting.  And, I'm not the only one who is like that.  Most every other parent or grandparent is the same way.  Tough being an umpire, but they have to expect that, since I'm sure they are the same way when they are watching their kids and grandkids playing.  

2020 Hempfield Baseball Team.  Caden is third row from bottom, third from the right.

I was warned by my wife not to go behind the screen at home plate, since she didn't want to have to go home early.  I did listen to her and we had a great time at the game.  The team looked as if they will do well this year.   BUT, two days later, the entire season came to a halt when Caden's school was closed due to the spred of the Coronavirus.  His years of practice and games while advancing up through the different levels of youth baseball have come to a halt by a silent killer.  No one is happy about this, especially Caden!  As upset as Caden may be, those boys who are seniors this year and who were hoping to perhaps receive scholarships to go to college and play baseball must be extremely heartbroken.  Caden lives for baseball!!  He does have summer ball to look forward to, but making his high school baseball team was a dream finally come true, and to have it all come to a sudden end is heartbreaking.  Not only for him, but his entire team as well as their friends and relatives.  I know the virus will eventually cease, but for now it has put my grandson's dream on hold.  How cruel!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

PS - I wrote this story a few weeks ago and since that time summer baseball has also been eliminated this year.  The entire family is disappointed, but not half as much as Caden and his dad.  Someday I will once again get to cheer for him on the playing field.  

The "Boy Would I Love To Have This" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Thinking whether I want to bid on a piece of baseball history.  Seems that Babe Ruth's dark colored Louisville Slugger baseball bat, which he used to hit his 500th Major League homer in 1929, will go up for auction on November 27.  George Herman "Babe" Ruth played major league baseball for 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935.  He carried the nicknames of "The Bambino" as well as "The Sultan of Swat."  

The Bambino

Many might not realize that he began his career pitching for the Boston Red Sox, but gained baseball fame as the slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees.  He had 714 career home runs, 2,213 career RBIs, 2,062 career bases of balls, .690 slugging percentage and a 1.164 on-base plus slugging percentage which still stands as the all time best as of last year.  Many consider him to be the greatest baseball player of all time.  In 1936 he was elected as one of the first five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Personally, I don't care much for the Yankees, but I wouldn't mind having that bat!  He was the first player ever to hit 500 homers when he hit a solo shot off Willis Hudlin at League Park in Cleveland.  He later gave the bat he used to hit the homer to his friend Jim Rice who was mayor of Suffern, New York.  The two friends golfed, bowled and dined together and Babe was a regular visitor at Rice's home.  Jim's son Terry is selling the bat.  Terry was born in 1948, two years after Ruth had died.  Terry's heroes were Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, but always had the "Babe's" bat in the corner behind the family's TV set.  Not once did he think to take the bat out and take a few swings with it.   The bat was recently authenticated and received the highest grade given.  The bat shows marks on the upper barrel where Ruth knocked mud from his cleats.  One part of the barrel has impressions where the bat made contact with the ball.  A bit of green paint from a dugout piece of wood where the bat always stood can be seen.  Now, how neat is that!  The ball that he hit for his 500th homer over the right field fence was found by an Indians fan who returned the ball to Ruth for $20 and his autograph.  

Babe Ruth's historical bat.  Worth $1,000,000?

Mr. Rice died in 1983 with his wife taking possession of the bat and keeping it in a closet in their home.  When she died it passed to their son Terry Rice who recently talked with his two older sisters before deciding to sell the bat.  They were OK with the move since they will all share the money from the auction.  It is estimated that the bat will sell for over $1 million.  I have to check my bank account and see if I may have enough to win the bat to go with the ball I already have.    The ball I'm talking about is the one I hit my first, and only, homer with when I was a 12 year old.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "So, Who Is This Nancy Zerg?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished watching the TV show Jeopardy.  Tonight's episode was a repeat of the 75th show that Ken Jennings appeared on during his record setting regular-season run.  I saw quite a few of those episodes, but had missed the show when he had lost.  Contestant by the name of Nancy Zerg defeated Ken on November 30, 2004.  He had won 74 straight games which was an all-time record for the show.  

Brad Rutter, student where I taught high school

It was in 2000 that Brad Rutter, a former student at Manheim Township High School won for 5 days in a row.  At the time, that was as many times as you were allowed to win.  Brad graduated from MTHS in 1995 where he was on the Quiz Bowl Team which took second place in the 1994 Texaco Star National Academic Championship.  He is one of 19 people who has been named to the National Academic Championship Hall of Fame.  During graduation in 2005 at MTHS, Brad returned to announce the start of a scholarship fund in memory of his late high-school Quiz Bowl coach, Anne Clouser.  Brad described himself as a slacker in high school and a Johns Hopkins dropout before his success on Jeopardy.  At the time of his 5 day run on Jeopardy he was working at a Lancaster record store.  

James Holzhauer and Ken Jennings

Today he is said to have a net worth of over $4 million.  I often wonder how many games he could have won had the rule been the same as it was when Ken Jennings won 74 straight and recent champ James Holzhauer won 32 straight.  Counting tournament money, Brad is still the all-time champion.  He never lost until he and Ken had to face Watson, an IBM computer platform.  He recently lost for the first time to a human when he came in third in the Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time in 2020.  I have had the chance to see Brad in the past few years when he returned to the Manheim Township Public Library to compete in a Jeopardy! type competition against students from his alma mater, Manheim Township.  I went to watch and take photos to share on another blog story I had written.  Today, Brad is listed on the internet as a TV host, producer and actor.  I enjoyed watching the latest competition, but felt awful after realizing I might have known maybe half-a--dozen of the answers on the show.  I just love the game show, but feel the same after each evening show---stupid!  My wife did assure me that I wasn't the only one watching that felt that way.  She's such a sweetheart!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Want to bet that sometime in the future there will be a clue in the game of Jeopardy listing the name of Nancy Zerg!

The "We've Come A Long Way, Baby" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just snapped a few photos of a few of my favorite baseball hats.  After checking my cell phone to make sure I liked the photos, I emailed them to my computer from my iPhone.  Less than a minute later I opened the email on my computer and placed the photos on my desktop.  Total time: perhaps 2 minutes.  And, in a few years that will be cut in half, or maybe even faster than that.  I can see myself putting on a pair of special glasses that carry a camera in them.  I will look at my hats and blink.  Then I will think to myself my email address and my glasses will send the link to my computer.  Up will pop the photo on my screen.  Remember...you heard it here first!  Remember when you used to look up phone numbers in the phone book?  I must admit I still have a phone book, but I'll bet that at least half of those numbers are no longer in service, since the owner of that phone no longer has a land line.  I can remember living at 929 North Queen Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania as a child and having a big black telephone that sat on the kitchen table and had holes in a round dial where you placed your finger to turn the dial to the right until you hit a stop.  

We had a phone exactly like this in our
first home on Janet Ave.  Pick up the
phone, dial the number with the circular
dial in the center and talk on the head-
piece you held in your hand.

Dialed all 7 numbers and waited until the person you dialed answered their phone.  We didn't have an area code you had to dial first.  I can also remember having a yellow phone on the wall when I lived with my wife and family at 925 Janet Ave. in Grandview Heights.  It had a dial on the body or the camera that was used for calling.  One of my son's friends visited us and asked how you use it when he wanted to check in with his parents.  Before too long you will have an implant beneath your ear that will understand your thoughts and dial the number of the person you wish to speak with by using the stored numbers it has in its memory.  You can continue with your chores while talking to your friend wirelessly.  And, how about computers!  I will sitting at my desk at typing on my keyboard that I placed any where in the room and the desktop computer can still recognize it and place each letter in the document on my screen.  I can then store it for future use if I care to in the "Cloud".  So what is that?  I must admit, I have no idea.  

Methods of storing data years ago.

There are plenty of clouds in the sky today, but I'm sure that none of them is saving what I am now typing, for within another minute it will be miles away.  I can remember floppy disks, thumb drives, and even flash drives where I used to store my stories.  But, have you heard of the "Izzy"?  That's what's coming next you know.  It is a small chip that you have implanted in your thumb between two of you joints.  As long as your body temperature is at least 96.3 degrees the chip will scan your computer or phone and remember everything you have typed when you hit the "Save" button.  To retrieve it you must hit a "Preview" button on your computer or phone and it will reappear on your computer screen.  Won't have to worry about losing your SD card or your computer disc.  As you grow older and your finger gets larger, you will be able to store larger photographs or even movies on your thumb.  I am preparing to try out my invention within the next few months.  I'm still trying to figure out how to project images from my thumb onto a movie screen at the local movie theater.  We've come a long way, baby, from the phone that was two empty tin cans connected together with a piece of string to the "Izzy"; from the telephone with a cord to the one you hang on you ear; from the fax machine to the copier that wirelessly reads your desktop computer.  But, I do see the advent of brick and mortar stores once again.  If we don't have them, why would you want a really neat car to drive to the mall to show it off in the parking lot?  Ah!  Life is a circus with three rings; one in your nose, one in your ear and one on your nipple!  I can see that coming soon...wait a minute...my wife says people already are doing that.  Darn!  There goes that idea that I was sure would make me famous.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Remarkable Work Of Martha Lintner Wendel" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Trying to keep myself busy so as not to become too bored with having to stay inside during these trying times.  Opened a few of my favorite Facebook pages and came across a story about one Lancastrian, Martha Lintner Wendel.  Seems that Martha was an accomplished artist who specialized in oil painting.  What made her work so impressive is that she didn't take up her hobby of oil painting until she was in her late 50s.  Reminded me of my mother who took up watercolors in her early 70s and had the same painting technique and style as Grandmother Moses.  I have written about my mother a few times on this blog and if you type in "Watercolors by Grandma Woods" in the little white box in the upper left corner, and hit "Enter" you can view some of her work.  As for Mrs. Wendel, her grandson, David G. Kirchner has attempted to locate many of his grandmother's paintings.  He has asked the owners to take a photo of them and send the photo to him so he can add it to his growing collection of his grandmother's work.  Martha Lintner Wendel was born on April 16, 1894 and died on July 20, 1970.  As stated in her grandson's story about her, she was the 8th great grand-daughter of Hans Herr, father of the first settler of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  The 1719 Hans Herr House was built by Christian and Anna Herr and is the oldest surviving house in Lancaster County.  It is the oldest original Mennonite meeting house still standing in the Western Hemisphere.  I have also made quite a few visits to the the Hans Herr House which is located off of Beaver Valley Pike (Rt. 222 South) to the South of Lancaster.  Martha decided to take up painting in the late 1950s with the ambition of painting an oil for each of her children and grandchildren who were alive at the time.  She easily reached her goal and now has paintings around the world; from California to Pennsylvania to Egypt.  Her grandson, David, has given directions in his Facebook posting telling people, whom might have one of his grandmother's paintings, how to take a photograph of their Martha Lintner Wendel painting so they can send it to him.  The directions have yielded quite a few beautiful paintings that adorn his site.  I viewed all the paintings that he has posted and wrote to David to see if he would mind if I shared my favorites with you.  He quickly responded and told me to feel free to use and information and photos from his grandmother in this story today.  Please examine the following paintings that were oil paintings of Martha Lintner Wendel, renounced oil artist.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Click on images to enlarge them.